As usual, I managed to go for weeks without posting, despite my best intentions. There's something about vacation that just sucks away what little ability I ever had to stick to deadlines or regimes, and suddenly it's been weeks and nothing at all productive has been done, even though I actually have more free time. It's a great mystery of my own personal universe.

In my defense, a lot has been going on. I did manage to buy my car, but not after what were probably the most stressful 48 hours of my life. Buying the car itself was pretty easy, but trying to get insurance...well, the phrase "when it rains, it pours" is pretty accurate here. Okay, story time.

So, I was cutting it pretty close, budget-wise, but I was pretty sure I had everything worked out. I'd heard from various people a ballpark range for insurance for a year, and naturally I divided that over 12 months and figured it was totally doable. That was, of course, where I made my first mistake.

Does anybody know any reputable used car dealers in Busan. If you've had any good experiences please let me know.

Also, any special cautions when buying in Korea? A lot of the cars of checked out online (encar) have been in accidents and have had a bit of front end damage, but seem to be fully repaired...but I'm not sure if they're ok or not. I do have a Korean to help me but this person doesn't know much about cars.

Neighbourhoods are great. The longer you stay in them the longer you become accustomed to the way life is lived there. You find more and more unique and interesting aspects that make your neighbourhood stand out more. One thing about living anywhere, but especially in Korea, is that when you fly through a neighbourhood you are frequently only presented with a shell of where it is you are passing. When you spend a little time there, you get a better feel for that place and you can appreciate it more.

Take Yeongtong-dong. The shell of Yeongtong-dong is very familiar to anyone who has lived in Korea for any decent amount of time. It is full with highrise apartments surrounding a central business area where shops, restaurants, and assorted offices and schools dominate in an electric and frantic bustle. If you go through the middle of Yeongtong you get the impression that everything here is done in a rush, but once you step away from here, the pace does slow down a little.

I’ll just start by saying that I like the alliteration in the title, but as I am English I shall be referring to the sidewalk as pavement from now on.

Living in Korea you need to be aware at all times of your surroundings. For instance, an unlikely place for unforeseen danger is the pavement. It is not uncommon in Korea to be dodging people, objects and even vehicles whilst using it.

My initial introduction to the perilous pavements here was my foot colliding with the curb. It took several weeks before my body and mind became accustomed to the marginally higher pavements and I stopped tripping up at just about every encounter.